# Patent

## Title
Software development tool with instant updating and simultaneous view of graphical and a textual display of source code

## Abstract

Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide an improved software development tool which allows a developer to simultaneously view a graphical and a textual display of source code. The graphical and textual views are synchronized so that a modification in one view is automatically reflected in the other view. In addition, the software development tool is designed for use with more than one programming language.

## Background
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The following identified U.S. patent applications are relied upon and are incorporated by reference in this application:

    
    
        U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/157,826, entitled “Visual Unified Modeling Language Development Tool,” filed on Oct. 5, 1999;
        U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/199,046, entitled “Software Development Tool,” filed on Apr. 21, 2000;
        U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/680,065, entitled “Method And System For Displaying Changes Of Source Code,” and filed on the same date herewith;
        U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/680,065, entitled “Method And System For Generating, Applying, And Defining A Pattern,” and filed on the same date herewith; and
        U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/680,064, entitled “Method. And System For Collapsing A Graphical Representation Of Related Elements,” and filed on the same date herewith.
    
    




FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and system for developing software. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and system for simultaneously displaying source code in a project with a graphical representation of the project.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Computer instructions are written in source code. Although a skilled programmer can understand source code to determine what the code is designed to accomplish, with highly complex software systems, a graphical representation or model of the source code is helpful to organize and visualize the structure and components of the system. Using models, the complex systems are easily identified, and the structural and behavioral patterns can be visualized and documented.
The well-known Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose notational language for visualizing, specifying, constructing, and documenting complex software systems. UML is used to model systems ranging from business information systems to Web-based distributed systems, to real-time embedded systems. UML formalizes the notion that real-world objects are best modeled as self-contained entities that contain both data and functionality. UML is more clearly described in the following references, which are incorporated herein by reference: (1) Martin Fowler, UML Distilled Second Edition: Applying the Standard Object Modeling Language, Addison-Wesley (1999); (2) Booch, Rumbaugh, and Jacobson, The Unified Modeling Language User Guide, Addison-Wesley (1998); (3) Peter Coad, Jeff DeLuca, and Eric Lefebvre, Java Modeling in Color with UML: Enterprise Components and Process, Prentice Hall (1999); and (4) Peter Coad, Mark Mayfield, and Jonathan Kern, Java Design: Building Better Apps & Applets (2nd Ed.), Prentice Hall (1998).
As shown in FIG. 1, conventional software development tools 100 allow a programmer to view UML 102 while viewing source code 104. The source code 104 is stored in a file, and a reverse engineering module 106 converts the source code 104 into a representation of the software project in a database or repository 108. The software project comprises source code 104 in at least one file which, when compiled, forms a sequence of instructions to be run by the data processing system. The repository 108 generates the UML 102. If any changes are made to the UML 102, they are automatically reflected in the repository 108, and a code generator 110 converts the representation in the repository 108 into source code 104. Such software development tools 100, however, do not synchronize the displays of the UML 102 and the source code 104. Rather, the repository 108 stores the representation of the software project while the file stores the source code 104. A modification in the UML 102 does not appear in the source code 104 unless the code generator 110 re-generates the source code 104 from the data in the repository 108. When this occurs, the entire source code 104 is rewritten. Similarly, any modifications made to the source code 104 do not appear in the UML 102 unless the reverse engineering module 106 updates the repository 108. As a result, redundant information is stored in the repository 108 and the source code 104. In addition, rather than making incremental changes to the source code 104, conventional software development tools 100 rewrite the overall source code 104 when modifications are made to the UML 102, resulting in wasted processing time. This type of manual, large-grained synchronization requires either human intervention, or a “batch” style process to try to keep the two views (the UML 102 and the source code 104) in sync. Unfortunately, this approach, adopted by many tools, leads to many undesirable side-effects; such as desired changes to the source code being overwritten by the tool. A further disadvantage with conventional software development tools 100 is that they are designed to only work in a single programming language. Thus, a tool 100 that is designed for JavaTM programs cannot be utilized to develop a program in C++. There is a need in the art for a tool that avoids the limitations of these conventional software development tools.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide an improved software development tool which overcomes the limitations of conventional software development tools. The improved software development tool of the present invention allows a developer to simultaneously view a graphical and a textual display of source code. The graphical and textual views are synchronized so that a modification in one view is automatically reflected in the other view. In addition, the software development tool is designed for use with more than one programming language.
In accordance with methods consistent with the present invention, a method is provided in a data processing system for developing source code in a project. The project comprises a plurality of files, and the source code of a chosen one of the files is written in a language. The method comprises the steps of determining the language of the source code of the chosen file, displaying the source code of the chosen file in the language, and displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project.
In accordance with methods consistent with the present invention, a method is provided in a data processing system for developing source code. The method comprises the steps of receiving an indication of a selected language for the source code, creating a file to store the source code in the selected language, displaying the source code of the file in the selected language, and displaying a graphical representation of the file.
In accordance with articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium contains instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method. The data processing system has source code in a project where the project comprises a plurality of files and the source code of a chosen one of the plurality of files is written in a language. The method comprises the steps of determining the language of the source code of the chosen file, displaying the source code of the chosen file, and displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project.
In accordance with articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium contains instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method. The method is for developing source code, and comprises the steps of receiving an indication of a selected language for the source code, creating a file to store the source code in the selected language, displaying the source code of the file, and displaying a graphical representation of the file.
Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an implementation of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings,
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional software development tool;
FIG. 2 depicts an overview of a software development tool in accordance with the present invention,
FIG. 3 depicts a data structure of the language-neutral representation created by the software development tool of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 depicts representative source code;
FIG. 5 depicts the data structure of the language-neutral representation of the source code of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 depicts a data processing system suitable for practicing the present invention;
FIG. 7 depicts an architectural overview of the software development tool of FIG. 2;
FIG. 8A depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays a list of predefined criteria which the software development tool checks in the source code;
FIG. 8B depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays the definition of the criteria which the software development tool checks in the source code, and an example of source code which does not conform to the criteria;
FIG. 8C depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays an example of source code which conforms to the criteria which the software development tool checks in the source code;
FIG. 9 depicts a flow diagram of the steps performed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2;
FIGS. 10A and 10B depict a flow diagram illustrating the update model step of FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 depicts a flow diagram of the steps performed by the software development tool in FIG. 2 when creating a class;
FIG. 12 depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays a use case diagram of source code;
FIG. 13 depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays both a class diagram and a textual view of source code;
FIG. 14 depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays a sequence diagram of source code;
FIG. 15 depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays a collaboration diagram of source code;
FIG. 16 depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays a statechart diagram of source code;
FIG. 17 depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays an activity diagram of source code;
FIG. 18 depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays a component diagram of source code; and
FIG. 19 depicts a user interface displayed by the software development tool depicted in FIG. 2, where the user interface displays a deployment diagram of source code.



DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide an improved software development tool that creates a graphical representation of source code regardless of the programming language in which the code is written. In addition, the software development tool simultaneously reflects any modifications to the source code to both the display of the graphical representation as well as the textual display of the source code.
As depicted in FIG. 2, source code 202 is being displayed in both a graphical form 204 and a textual form 206. In accordance with methods and systems consistent with the present invention, the improved software development tool generates a transient meta model (TMM) 200 which stores a language-neutral representation of the source code 202. The graphical 204 and textual 206 representations of the source code 202 are generated from the language-neutral representation in the TMM 200. Although modifications made on the displays 204 and 206 may appear to modify the displays 204 and 206, in actuality all modifications are made directly to the source code 202 via an incremental code editor (ICE) 208, and the TMM 200 is used to generate the modifications in both the graphical 204 and the textual 206 views from the modifications to the source code 202.
The improved software development tool provides simultaneous round-trip engineering, i.e., the graphical representation 204 is synchronized with the textual representation 206. Thus, if a change is made to the source code 202 via the graphical representation 204, the textual representation 206 is updated automatically. Similarly, if a change is made to the source code 202 via the textual representation 206, the graphical representation 204 is updated to remain synchronized. There is no repository, no batch code generation, and no risk of losing code.
The data structure 300 of the language-neutral representation is depicted in FIG. 3. The data structure 300 comprises a Source Code Interface (SCI) model 302, an SCI package 304, an SCI class 306, and an SCI member 308. The SCI model 302 is the source code organized into packages. The SCI model 302 corresponds to a directory for a software project being developed by the user, and the SCI package 304 corresponds to a subdirectory. The software project comprises the source code in at least one file that is compiled to form a sequence of instructions to be run by a data processing system. The data processing system is discussed in detail below. As is well known in object-oriented programming, the class 306 is a category of objects which describes a group of objects with similar properties (attributes), common behavior (operations or methods), common relationships to other objects, and common semantics. The members 308 comprise attributes and/or operations.
For example, the data structure 500 for the source code 400 depicted in FIG. 4 is depicted in FIG. 5. UserInterface 402 is defined as a package 404. Accordingly, UserInterface 402 is contained in SCI package 502. Similarly, Bank 406, which is defined as a class 408, is contained in SCI class 504, and Name 410 and Assets 412, which are defined as attributes (strings 414), are contained in SCI members 506. Since these elements are in the same project, all are linked. The data structure 500 also identifies the language in which the source code is written 508, e.g., the JavaTM language.
FIG. 6 depicts a data processing system 600 suitable for practicing methods and systems consistent with the present invention. Data processing system 600 comprises a memory 602, a secondary storage device 604, an I/O device 606, and a processor 608. Memory 602 includes the improved software development tool 610. The software development tool 610 is used to develop a software project 612, and create the TMM 200 in the memory 602. The project 612 is stored in the secondary storage device 604 of the data processing system 600. One skilled in the art will recognize that data processing system 600 may contain additional or different components.
Although aspects of the present invention are described as being stored in memory, one skilled in the art will appreciate that these aspects can also be stored on or read from other types of computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks or CD-ROM; a carrier wave from a network, such as Internet; or other forms of RAM or ROM either currently known or later developed.
FIG. 7 illustrates an architectural overview of the improved software development tool 610. The tool 610 comprises a core 700, an open application program interface (API) 702, and modules 704. The core 700 includes a parser 706 and an ICE 208. The parser 706 converts the source code into the language-neutral representation in the TMM, and the ICE 208 converts the text from the displays into source code. There are three main packages composing the API. 702; Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 708; Read-Write Interface (RWI) 710; and Source Code Interface (SCI) 712. Each package includes corresponding subpackages. As is well known in the art, a package is a collection of attributes, notifications, operations, or behaviors that are treated as a single module or program unit.
IDE 708 is the API 702 needed to generate custom outputs based on information contained in a model. It is a read-only interface, i.e., the user can extract information from the model, but not change the model. IDE 708 provides the functionality related to the model's representation in IDE 708 and interaction with the user. Each package composing the IDE group has a description highlighting the areas of applicability of this concrete package.
RWI 710 enables the user to go deeper into the architecture. Using RWI 710, information can be extracted from and written to the models. RWI not only represents packages, classes and members, but it may also represent different diagrams (class diagrams, use case diagrams, sequence diagrams and others), links, notes, use cases, actors, states, etc.
SCI 712 is at the source code level, and allows the user to work with the source code almost independently of the language being used.
There are a variety of modules 704 in the software development tool 610 of the present invention. Some of the modules 704 access information to generate graphical and code documentation in custom formats, export to different file formats, or develop patterns. The software development tool also includes a quality assurance (QA) module which monitors the modifications to the source code and calculates the complexity metrics, i.e., the measurement of the program's performance or efficiency, to support quality assurance. The types of metrics calculated by the software development tool include basic metrics, cohesion metrics, complexity metrics, coupling metrics, Halstead metrics, inheritance metrics, maximum metrics, polymorphism metrics, and ratio metrics. Examples of these metrics with their respective definitions are identified in Tables 1-9 below.







TABLE 1







Basic Metrics








Basic Metrics
Description





Lines Of Code
Counts the number of code lines.


Number Of
Counts the number of attributes. If a class has


Attributes
a high number of attributes, it may be appropriate



to divide it into subclasses.


Number Of
Counts the number of classes.


Classes


Number Of
Counts the number of imported packages/classes.


Import
This measure can highlight excessive importing,


Statements
and also can be used as a measure of coupling.


Number Of
Counts the number of members, i.e., attributes


Members
and operations. If a class has a high number



of members, it may be appropriate to divide



it into subclasses.


Number Of
Counts the number of operations. If a class has


Operations
a high number of operations, it may be appropriate



to divide it into subclasses.
















TABLE 2







Cohesion Metrics








Cohesion



Metrics
Description





Lack Of
Takes each pair of methods in the class and


Cohesion Of
determines the set of fields they each access. A low


Methods 1
value indicates high coupling between methods, which



indicates potentially low reusability and increased



testing because many methods can affect the same



attributes.


Lack Of
Counts the percentage of methods that do not access


Cohesion Of
a specific attribute averaged over all attributes


Methods 2
in the class. A high value of cohesion (a low lack



of cohesion) implies that the class is well



designed.


Lack Of
Measures the dissimilarity of methods in a class


Cohesion Of
by attributes. A low value indicates good class


Methods 3
subdivision, implying simplicity and high reusability.



A high lack of cohesion increases complexity,



thereby increasing the likelihood of errors during the



development process.
















TABLE 3







Complexity Metrics










Complexity




Metrics
Description







Attribute
Defined as the sum of each attribute's



Complexity
value in the class.



Cyclomatic
Represents the cognitive complexity of the



Complexity
class. It counts the number of possible paths




through an algorithm by counting the number




of distinct regions on a flowgraph, i.e., the




number of ‘if,’ ‘for’ and ‘while’ statements




in the operation's body.



Number Of
Processes all of the methods and constructors,



Remote
and counts the number of different remote methods



Methods
called. A remote method is defined as a method




which is not declared in either the class itself




or its ancestors.



Response
Calculated as ‘Number of Local Methods’ +



For Class
‘Number of Remote Methods.’ A class which




provides a larger response set is considered




to be more complex and requires more testing than




one with a smaller overall design complexity.



Weighted
The sum of the complexity of all methods for



Methods
a class, where each method is weighted by its



Per Class 1
cyclomatic complexity. The number of methods and




the complexity of the methods involved is a




predictor of how much time and effort is required




to develop and maintain the class.



Weighted
Measures the complexity of a class, assuming



Methods
that a class with more methods than another is



Per Class 2
more complex, and that a method with more




parameters than another is also likely to be more




complex.

















TABLE 4







Coupling Metrics








Coupling



Metrics
Description





Coupling
Represents the number of other classes to


Between
which a class is coupled. Counts the number


Objects
of reference types that are used in attribute



declarations, formal parameters, return types, throws



declarations and local variables, and types from



which attribute and method selections are made.



Excessive coupling between objects is detrimental



to modular design and prevents reuse. The more



independent a class is, the easier it is to reuse it



in another application. In order to improve modularity



and promote encapsulation, inter-object class couples



should be kept to a minimum. The larger the number



of couples, the higher the sensitivity to changes



in other parts of the design, and therefore



maintenance is more difficult. A measure of coupling



is useful to determine how complex the testing of



various parts of a design is likely to be. The higher



the inter-object class coupling, the more rigorous



the testing needs to be.


Data
Counts the number of reference types used in


Abstraction
the attribute declarations.


Coupling


FanOut
Counts the number of reference types that are



used in attribute declarations, formal parameters,



return types, throws declarations and local variables.
















TABLE 5







Halstead Metrics








Halstead Metrics
Description





Halstead
This measure is one of the Halstead Software


Difficulty
Science metrics. It is calculated as (‘Number of



Unique Operators’/‘Number of Unique Operands’) *



(‘Number of Operands’/‘Number of Unique



Operands’).


Halstead
This measure is one of the Halstead Software


Effort
Science metrics. It is calculated as ‘Halstead



Difficulty’ * ‘Halstead Program Volume.’


Halstead
This measure is one of the Halstead Software


Program
Science metrics. It is calculated as ‘Number of


Length
Operators’ + ‘Number of Operands.’


Halstead
This measure is one of the Halstead Software


Program
Science metrics. It is calculated as ‘Number


Vocabulary
of Unique Operators’ + ‘Number of



Unique Operands.’


Halstead
This measure is one of the Halstead Software


Program
Science metrics. It is calculated as ‘Halstead


Volume
Program Length’ * Log2(‘Halstead Program



Vocabulary’).


Number Of
This measure is used as an input to the Halstead


Operands
Software Science metrics. It counts the number



of operands used in a class.


Number Of
This measure is used as an input to the Halstead


Operators
Software Science metrics. It counts the number



of operators used in a class.


Number Of
This measure is used as an input to the Halstead


Unique
Software Science metrics. It counts the number of


Operands
unique operands used in a class.


Number Of
This measure is used as an input to the Halstead


Unique
Software Science metrics. It counts the number of


Operators
unique operators used in a class.
















TABLE 6







Inheritance Metrics








Inheritance



Metrics
Description





Depth Of
Counts how far down the inheritance


Inheritance
hierarchy a class or interface is declared.


Hierarchy
High values imply that a class is quite



specialized.


Number Of
Counts the number of classes which inherit


Child
from a particular class, i.e., the number of


Classes
classes in the inheritance tree down from a



class. Non-zero value indicates that the particular



class is being re-used. The abstraction of the



class may be poor if there are too many child classes.



It should also be stated that a high value of



this measure points to the definite amount of



testing required for each child class.
















TABLE 7







Maximum Metrics










Maximum




Metrics
Description







Maximum
Counts the maximum depth of ‘if,’ ‘for’ and



Number Of
‘while’ branches in the bodies of methods.



Levels
Logical units with a large number of nested




levels may need implementation simplification and




process improvement because groups that contain




more than seven pieces of information are




increasingly harder for people to understand in




problem solving.



Maximum
Displays the maximum number of parameters



Number Of
among all class operations. Methods with



Parameters
many parameters tend to be more specialized and,




thus, are less likely to be reusable.



Maximum
Counts the maximum size of the operations



Size Of
for a class. Method size is determined in



Operation
terms of cyclomatic complexity, i.e., the




number of ‘if,’ ‘for’ and ‘while’ statements in the




operation’s body.

















TABLE 8







Polymorphism Metrics








Polymorphism



Metrics
Description





Number Of Added
Counts the number of operations added by


Methods
a class. A large value of this measure indicates



that the functionality of the given class becomes



increasingly distinct from that of the parent



classes. In this case, it should be considered



whether this class genuinely should be inheriting



from the parent, or if it could be broken down



into several smaller classes.


Number Of
Counts the number of inherited operations which


Overridden
a class overrides. Classes without parents


Methods
are not processed. High values tend to indicate



design problems, i.e., subclasses should



generally add to and extend the functionality



of the parent classes rather than overriding them.
















TABLE 9







Ratio Metrics










Ratio




Metrics
Description







Comment
Counts the ratio of comments to total



Ratio
lines of code including comments.



Percentage
Counts the percentage of package members



Of Package
in a class.



Members



Percentage
Counts the percentage of private



Of Private
members in a class.



Members



Percentage
Counts the percentage of protected



Of Protected
members in a class.



Members



Percentage
Counts the proportion of vulnerable members



Of Public
in a class. A large proportion of such



Members
members means that the class has high potential




to be affected by external classes and means that




increased efforts will be needed to test such a




class thoroughly.



True Comment
Counts the ratio of comments to total lines



Ratio
of code excluding comments.










The QA module also provides audits, i.e., the module checks for conformance to predefined or user-defined styles. The types of audits provided by the module include coding style, critical errors, declaration style, documentation, naming style, performance, possible errors and superfluous content. Examples of these audits with their respective definitions are identified in Tables 10-17 below.







TABLE 10







Coding Style Audits








Coding



Style


Audits
Description





Access Of
Static members should be referenced


Static
through class names rather than


Members
through objects.


Through


Objects


Assignment
Formal parameters should not be assigned.


To Formal


Parameters


Complex
Checks for the occurrence of multiple


Assignment
assignments and assignments to variables



within the same expression. Complex



assignments should be avoided since they



decrease program readability.


Don't Use
The negation operator slows down the


the Negation
readability of the program. Thus, it is


Operator
recommended that it not be used frequently.


Frequently


Operator ‘?:’
The operator ‘?:’ makes the code harder


May Not
to read than the alternative form with an


Be Used
if-statement.


Provide
Checks if the third argument of the ‘for’-statement


Incremental
is missing.


In For-Statement


or use


while-statement


Replacement
Demand import-declarations must be replaced


For
by a list of single import-declarations that


Demand
are actually imported into the compilation unit.


Imports
In other words, import-statements may not end



with an asterisk.


Use Abbreviated
Use the abbreviated assignment operator


Assignment
in order to write programs more rapidly.


Operator
Also some compilers run faster with the



abbreviated assignment operator.


Use ‘this’
Tries to make the developer use ‘this’


Explicitly
explicitly when trying to access class


To Access
members. Using the same class member names


Class
with parameter names often makes what the


Members
developer is referring to unclear.
















TABLE 11







Critical Errors Audits








Critical



Errors


Audits
Description





Avoid
Detects when attributes declared in child classes


Hiding
hide inherited attributes.


Inherited


Attributes


Avoid
Detects when inherited static operations are hidden


Hiding
by child classes.


Inherited


Static


Methods


Command
Prevents methods that return a value from a


Query
modifying state. The methods used to query the state


Separation
of an object must be different from the methods used



to perform commands (change the state of the object).


Hiding
Declarations of names should not hide other


Of Names
declarations of the same name.


Inaccessible
Overload resolution only considers constructors


Constructor
and methods that are visible at the point of the


Or Method
call. If, however, all the constructors and methods


Matches
were considered, there may be more matches. This



rule is violated in this case.



Imagine that ClassB is in a different package



than ClassA. Then the allocation of ClassB violates



this rule since the second constructor is not



visible at the point of the allocation, but it still



matches the allocation (based on signature). Also



the call to open in ClassB violates this rule since



the second and the third declarations of open are not



visible at the point of the call, but it still



matches the call (based on signature).


Multiple
Multiple declarations with the same name must not be


Visible 
simultaneously visible except for overloaded methods.


Declarations


With


Same Name


Overriding
Checks for abstract methods overriding non-abstract


a Non-
methods in a subclass.


Abstract


Method


With an


Abstract


Method


Overriding
A subclass should not contain a method with the


a Private
same name and signature as in a superclass if


Method
these methods are declared to be private.


Overloading
A superclass method may not be overloaded within


Within a
a subclass unless all overloading in the superclass


Subclass
are also overridden in the subclass. It is very



unusual for a subclass to be overloading methods



in its superclass without also overriding the



methods it is overloading. More frequently this



happens due to inconsistent changes between the



superclass and subclass - i.e., the intention of



the user is to override the method in the



superclass, but due to the error, the subclass



method ends up overloading the superclass method.


Use of
Non-final static attributes should not be used


Static
in initializations of attributes.


Attribute


for


Initialization
















TABLE 12







Declaration Style Audits










Declaration




Style



Audits
Description







Badly
Array declarators must be placed next to the



Located
type descriptor of their component type.



Array



Declarators



Constant
Private attributes that never get their values



Private
changed must be declared final. By explicitly



Attributes
declaring them in such a way, a reader of the



Must Be
source code get some information of how the



Final
attribute is supposed to be used.



Constant
Local variables that never get their values



Variables
changed must be declared final. By explicitly



Must Be
declaring them in such a way, a reader of the



Final
source code obtains information about how the




variable is supposed to be used.



Declare
Several variables (attributes and local



Variables
variables) should not be declared in the



In One
same statement.



Statement



Each



Instantiated
This rule recommends making all instantiated



Classes
classes final. It checks classes which are



Should
present in the object model. Classes from



Be Final
search/classpath are ignored.



List All
Enforces a standard to improve readability.



Public And
Methods/data in your class should be ordered



Package
properly.



Members



First



Order Of
Checks for correct ordering of modifiers.



Appearance
For classes, this includes visibility



Of Modifiers
(public, protected or private), abstract,




static, final. For attributes, this includes




visibility (public, protected or private),




static, final, transient, volatile. For




operations, this includes visibility (public,




protected or private), abstract, static, final,




synchronized, native.



Put the
Tries to make the program comply with various



Main
coding standards regarding the form of the



Function
class definitions.



Last

















TABLE 13







Documentation Audits










Documentation




Audits
Description







Bad Tag
This rule verifies code against accidental use



In JavaDoc
of improper JavDoc tags.



Comments



Distinguish
Checks whether the JavaDoc comments in your



Between
program ends with ‘**/’ and ordinary C-style



JavaDoc
ones with ‘*/.’



And Ordinary



Comments

















TABLE 14







Naming Style Audits










Naming Style




Audits
Description







Class Name
Checks whether top level classes or



Must Match
interfaces have the same name as the



Its File
file in which they reside.



Name



Group
Enforces standard to improve readability.



Operations



With



Same Name



Together



Naming
Takes a regular expression and item name



Conventions
and reports all occurrences where the




pattern does not match the declaration.



Names Of
Names of classes which inherit from Exception



Exception
should end with Exception.



Classes



Use Conventional
One-character local variable or parameter



Variable
names should be avoided, except for temporary



Names
and looping variables, or where a variable




holds an undistinguished value of a type.

















TABLE 15







Performance Audits










Performance




Audits
Description







Avoid
This rule recommends declaring local variables



Declaring
outside the loops since declaring variables



Variables
inside the loop is less efficient.



Inside Loops



Append To
Performance enhancements can be obtained by



String
replacing String operations with StringBuffer



Within
operations if a String object is appended



a Loop
within a loop.



Complex
Avoid using complex expressions as repeat



Loop
conditions within loops.



Expressions

















TABLE 16







Possible Error Audits








Possible



Error


Audits
Description





Avoid Public
Declare the attributes either private or


And
protected, and provide operations to


Package
access or change them.


Attributes


Avoid
Avoid statements with empty body.


Statements


With


Empty Body


Assignment
‘For’-loop variables should not be assigned.


To For-Loop


Variables


Don't
Avoid testing for equality of floating point


Compare
numbers since floating-point numbers that


Floating
should be equal are not always equal due to


Point
rounding problems.


Types


Enclosing
The statement of a loop must always be a


Body
block. The ‘then’ and ‘else’ parts of ‘if’-statements


Within
must always be blocks. This makes it easier to


a Block
add statements without accidentally introducing



bugs in case the developer forgets to add braces.


Explicitly
Explicitly initialize all variables. The only reason


Initialize
not to initialize a variable is where it's declared


All
is if the initial value depends on some computation


Variables
occurring first.


Method
Calling of super.finalize( ) from finalize( ) is


finalize( )
good practice of programming, even if the base class


Doesn't
doesn't define the finalize( ) method. This makes


Call
class implementations less dependent on each other.


super.finalize( )


Mixing
An expression containing multiple logical operators


Logical
should be parenthesized properly.


Operators


Without


Parentheses


No
Use of assignment within conditions makes the


Assignments
source code hard to understand.


In Conditional


Expressions


Use ‘equals’
The ‘==’ operator used on strings checks if


Instead Of
two string objects are two identical objects. In most


‘==’
situations, however, one likes to simply check if



two strings have the same value. In these cases,



the ‘equals’ method should be used.


Use ‘L’
It is better to use uppercase ‘L’ to distinguish


Instead
the letter ‘1’ from the number ‘1.’


of ‘1’


at the end


of integer


constant


Use Of
The ‘synchronized’ modifier on methods


the
can sometimes cause confusion during maintenance


‘synchronized’
as well as during debugging. This rule therefore


Modifier
recommends against using this modifier, and



instead recommends using ‘synchronized’



statements as replacements.
















TABLE 17







Superfluous Content Audits








Superfluous



Content


Audits
Description





Duplicate
There should be at most one import declaration


Import
that imports a particular class/package.


Declarations


Don't Import
No classes or interfaces need to be imported


the Package
from the package to which the source code file


the Source
belongs. Everything in that package is available


File
without explicit import statements.


Belongs


To


Explicit
Explicit import of classes from the package ‘java.lang’


Import
should not be performed.


Of the


java.lang


Classes


Equality
Avoid performing equality operations on Boolean


Operations
operands. ‘True’ and ‘false’ literals should


On Boolean
not be used in conditional clauses.


Arguments


Imported
It is not legal to import a class or an interface and


Items Must
never use it. This rule checks classes and interfaces


Be Used
that are explicitly imported with their names - that



is not with import of a complete package, using an



asterisk. If unused class and interface imports



are omitted, the amount of meaningless source code



is reduced - thus the amount of code to be



understood by a reader is minimized.


Unnecessary
Checks for the use of type casts that are not


Casts
necessary.


Unnecessary
Verifies that the runtime type of the left-hand


‘instanceof’
side expression is the same as the one specified


Evaluations
on the right-hand side.


Unused
Local variables and formal parameter


Local
declarations must be used.


Variables


And


Formal


Parameters


Use Of
The modifier ‘abstract’ is considered obsolete


Obsolete
and should not be used.


Interface


Modifier


Use Of
All interface operations are implicitly public


Unnecessary
and abstract. All interface attributes are


Interface
implicitly public, final and static.


Member


Modifiers


Unused
An unused class member might indicate a


Private
logical flaw in the program. The class declaration


Class
has to be reconsidered in order to


Member
determine the need of the unused member(s).









If the QA module determines that the source code does not conform, an error message is provided to the developer. For example, as depicted in FIG. 8A, the software development tool checks for a variety of coding styles 800. If the software development tool were to check for “Access Of Static Members Through Objects” 802, it would verify whether static members are referenced through class names rather than through objects 804. Further, as depicted in FIG. 8B, if the software development tool were to check for “Complex Assignment” 806, the software development tool would check for the occurrence of multiple assignments and assignments to variables within the same expression to avoid complex assignments since these decrease program readability 808. An example of source code having a complex assignment 810 and source code having a non-complex assignment 812 are depicted in FIGS. 8B and 8C, respectively. The QA module of the software development tool scans the source code for other syntax errors well known in the art, as described above, and provides an error message if any such errors are detected.
The improved software development tool of the present invention is used to develop source code in a project. The project comprises a plurality of files and the source code of a chosen one of the plurality of files is written in a given language. The software development tool determines the language of the source code of the chosen file, converts the source code from the language into a language-neutral representation, uses the language-neutral representation to textually display the source code of the chosen file in the language, and uses the language-neutral representation to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project. The source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.
The improved software development tool of the present invention is also used to develop source code. The software development tool receives an indication of a selected language for the source code, creates a file to store the source code in the selected language, converts the source code from the selected language into a language-neutral representation, uses the language-neutral representation to display the source code of the file, and uses the language-neutral representation to display a graphical representation of the file. Again, the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.
Moreover, if the source code in the file is modified, the modified source code and a graphical representation of at least a portion of the modified source code are displayed simultaneously. The QA module of the software development tool provides an error message if the modification does not conform to predefined or user-defined styles, as described above. The modification to the source code may be received from the display of the source code, the display of the graphical representation of the project, or via some other independent software to modify the code. The graphical representation of the project may be in Unified Modeling Language; however, one skilled in the art will recognize that other graphical representations of the source code may be displayed. Further, although the present invention is described and shown using the various views of the UML, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other views may be displayed.
FIG. 9 depicts a flow diagram of the steps performed by the software development tool to develop a project in accordance with the present invention. As previously stated, the project comprises a plurality of files. The developer either uses the software development tool to open a file which contains existing source code, or to create a file in which the source code will be developed. If the software development tool is used to open the file, determined in step 900, the software development tool initially determines the programming language in which the code is written (step 902). The language is identified by the extension of the file, e.g., “.java” identifies source code written in the JavaTM language, while “.cpp” identifies source code written in C++. The software development tool then obtains a template for the current programming language, i.e., a collection of generalized definitions for the particular language that can be used to build the data structure (step 904). For example, the definition of a new JavaTM class contains a default name, e.g., “Class1,” and the default code, “public class Class1 { }.” Such templates are well known in the art. For example, the “Microsoft Foundation Class Library” and the “Microsoft Word Template For Business Use Case Modeling” are examples of standard template libraries from which programmers can choose individual template classes. The software development tool uses the template to parse the source code (step 906), and create the data structure (step 908). After creating the data structure or if there is no existing code, the software development tool awaits an event, i.e., a modification or addition to the source code by the developer (step 910). If an event is received and the event is to close the file (step 912), the file is saved (step 914) and closed (step 916). Otherwise, the software development tool performs the event (step 918), i.e., the tool makes the modification. The software development tool then updates the TMM or model (step 920), as discussed in detail below, and updates both the graphical and the textual views (step 922).
FIGS. 10A and 10B depict a flow diagram illustrating the update model step of FIG. 9. The software development tool selects a file from the project (step 1000), and determines whether the file is new (step 1002), whether the file has been updated (step 1004), or whether the file has been deleted (step 1006). If the file is new, the software development tool adds the additional symbols from the file to the TMM (step 1008). To add the symbol to the TMM, the software development tool uses the template to parse the symbol to the TMM. If the file has been updated, the software development tool updates the symbols in the TMM (step 1010). Similar to the addition of a symbol to the TMM, the software development tool uses the template to parse the symbol to the TMM. If the file has been deleted, the software development tool deletes the symbols in the TMM (step 1012). The software development tool continues this analysis for all files in the project. After all files are analyzed (step 1014), any obsolete symbols in the TMM (step 1016) are deleted (step 1018).
FIG. 11 depicts a flow diagram illustrating the performance of an event, specifically the creation of a class, in accordance with the present invention. After identifying the programming language (step 1100), the software development tool obtains a template for the language (step 1102), creates a source code file in the project directory (step 1104), and pastes the template onto the TMM (step 1106). The project directory corresponds to the SCI model 302 of FIG. 3. Additional events which a developer may perform using the software development tool include the creation, modification or deletion of packages, projects, attributes, interfaces, links, operations, and the closing of a file.
The software development tool is collectively broken into three views of the application: the static view, the dynamic view, and the functional view. The static view is modeled using the use-case and class diagrams. A use case diagram 1200, depicted in FIG. 12, shows the relationship among actors 1202 and use cases 1204 within the system 1206. A class diagram 1300, depicted in FIG. 13 with its associated source code 1302, on the other hand, includes classes 1304, interfaces, packages and their relationships connected as a graph to each other and to their contents.
The dynamic view is modeled using the sequence, collaboration and statechart diagrams. As depicted in FIG. 14, a sequence diagram 1400 represents an interaction, which is a set of messages 1402 exchanged among objects 1404 within a collaboration to effect a desired operation or result. In a sequence diagram 1400, the vertical dimension represents time and the horizontal dimension represents different objects. A collaboration diagram 1500, depicted in FIG. 15, is also an interaction with messages 1502 exchanged among objects 1504, but it is also a collaboration, which is a set of objects 1504 related in a particular context. Contrary to sequence diagrams 1400 (FIG. 14), which emphasize the time ordering of messages along the vertical axis, collaboration diagrams 1500 (FIG. 15) emphasize the structural organization of objects.
A statechart diagram 1600 is depicted in FIG. 16. The statechart diagram 1600 includes the sequences of states 1602 that an object or interaction goes through during its life in response to stimuli, together with its responses and actions. It uses a graphic notation that shows states of an object, the events that cause a transition from one state to another, and the actions that result from the transition.
The functional view can be represented by activity diagrams 1700 and more traditional descriptive narratives such as pseudocode and minispecifications. An activity diagram 1700 is depicted in FIG. 17, and is a special case of a state diagram where most, if not all, of the states are action states 1702 and where most, if not all, of the transitions are triggered by completion of the actions in the source states. Activity diagrams 1700 are used in situations where all or most of the events represent the completion of internally generated actions.
There is also a fourth view mingled with the static view called the architectural view. This view is modeled using package, component and deployment diagrams. Package diagrams show packages of classes and the dependencies among them. Component diagrams 1800, depicted in FIG. 18, are graphical representations of a system or its component parts. Component diagrams 1800 show the dependencies among software components, including source code components, binary code components and executable components. As depicted in FIG. 19, Deployment diagrams 1900 are used to show the distribution strategy for a distributed object system. Deployment diagrams 1900 show the configuration of run-time processing elements and the software components, processes and objects that live on them.
Although discussed in terms of class diagrams, one skilled in the art will recognize that the software development tool of the present invention may support these and other graphical views.
While various embodiments of the application have been described, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible that are within the scope of this invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.

## Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for developing source code in a project wherein the project comprises a plurality of files and the source code of a chosen one of the plurality of files is written in a language, the method comprising the steps of:
determining the language of the source code of the chosen file; 
converting the source code from the language into a language-neutral representation; 
using the language-neutral representation to display the source code in the language of the chosen file; and 
using the language-neutral representation to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project, wherein the display of the source code in the language of the chosen file and the display of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:
receiving a modification to the source code of the chosen file; 
converting the modification into a language-neutral representation of the modification; 
using the language-neutral representation of the modification to display the modified source code of the chosen file; and 
using the language-neutral representation of the modification to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:
detecting a syntax error in the modified source code; and 
providing an error message regarding the syntax error.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the source code.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the graphical representation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram, and a deployment diagram.

8. A method in a data processing system for developing source code in a project wherein the project comprises a plurality of files and the source code of a chosen one of the plurality of files is written in a language, the method comprising the steps of:
determining the language of the source code of the chosen file; 
displaying the source code of the chosen file in the language; and 
displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project, wherein the display of the source code in the of the chosen file and the display of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:
receiving a modification to the source code of the chosen file; 
displaying the modified source code of the chosen file; and 
displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:
detecting a syntax error in the modified source code; and 
providing an error message regarding the syntax error.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the source code.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the graphical representation.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

15. A method in a data processing system for developing source code, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving an identification of a selected language for the source code; 
creating a file to store the source code in the selected language; 
converting the source code from the selected language into a language-neutral representation; 
using the language-neutral representation to display the source code in the language of the file; and 
using the language-neutral representation to display a graphical representation of the file, wherein the display of the source code in the language of the chosen file and the display of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:
receiving a modification to the source code of the chosen file; 
converting the modification into a language-neutral representation of the modification; 
using the language-neutral representation of the modification to display the modified source code of the chosen file; and 
using the language-neutral representation of the modification to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:
detecting a syntax error in the modified source code; and 
providing an error message regarding the syntax error.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the source code.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the graphical representation.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

22. A method in a data processing system for developing source code, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving an identification of a selected language for the source code; 
creating a file to store the source code in the selected language; 
displaying the source code of the file in the selected language; and 
displaying a graphical representation of the file, wherein the display of the source code of the file in the selected language and the display of the graphical representation the file are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising the steps of:
receiving a modification to the source code of the chosen file; 
displaying the modified source code of the chosen file; and 
displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the steps of:
detecting a syntax error in the modified source code; and 
providing an error message regarding the syntax error.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the source code.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the graphical representation.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

29. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, the data processing system having source code in a project wherein the project comprises a plurality of files and the source code of a chosen one of the plurality of files is written in a language, the method comprising the steps of:
determining the language of the source code of the chosen file; 
converting the source code from the language into a language-neutral representation; 
using the language-neutral representation to display the source code of the chosen file; and 
using the language-neutral representation to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project, wherein the display of the source code of the chosen file and the display of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the computer system further performs the steps of:
receiving a modification to the source code of the chosen file; 
converting the modification into a language-neutral representation of the modification; 
using the language-neutral representation of the modification to display the modified source code of the chosen file; and 
using the language-neutral representation of the modification to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code, wherein the display of the modified source code of the chosen file and the display of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the computer system further performs the steps of:
detecting a syntax error in the modified source code; and 
providing an error message regarding the syntax error.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the source code.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the graphical representation.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

36. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, the data processing system having source code in a project wherein the project comprises a plurality of files and the source code of a chosen one of the plurality of files is written in a language, the method comprising the steps of:
determining the language of the source code of the chosen file; 
displaying the source code of the chosen file; and 
displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project, wherein the display of the source code of the chosen file and the display of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the computer system further performs the steps of:
receiving a modification to the source code of the chosen file; 
displaying the modified source code of the chosen file; and 
displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the computer system further performs the steps of:
detecting a syntax error in the modified source code; and 
providing an error message regarding the syntax error.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the source code.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the graphical representation.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

43. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method to develop source code, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving an identification of a selected language for the source code; 
creating a file to store the source code in the selected language; 
converting the source code into a language-neutral representation; 
using the language-neutral representation to display the source code of the file; and 
using the language-neutral representation to display a graphical representation of the file, wherein the display of the source code of the file and the display of the graphical representation of the file are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein the computer system further performs the steps of:
receiving a modification to the source code of the chosen file; 
converting the modification into a language-neutral representation of the modification; 
using the language-neutral representation of the modification to display the modified source code of the chosen file; and 
using the language-neutral representation of the modification to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the computer system further performs the steps of:
detecting a syntax error in the modified source code; and 
providing an error message regarding the syntax error.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the source code.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the graphical representation.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

50. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method to develop source code, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving an indication identification of a selected language for the source code; 
creating a file to store the source code in the selected language; 
displaying the source code of the file; and 
displaying a graphical representation of the file, wherein the display of the source code of the file and the display of the graphical representation of the file are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

51. The computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

52. The computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the computer system further performs the steps of:
receiving a modification to the source code of the chosen file; 
displaying the modified source code of the chosen file; and 
displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

53. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the computer system further performs the steps of:
detecting a syntax error in the modified source code; and 
providing an error message regarding the syntax error.

54. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the source code.

55. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the modification to the source code is received from the display of the graphical representation.

56. The computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

57. A data processing system comprising:
a secondary storage device further comprising source code in a project wherein the project comprises a plurality of files and the source code of a chosen one of the plurality of files is written in a language; 
a memory device further comprising a program that determines the language of the source code of the chosen file, that converts the source code into a language-neutral representation, that uses the language-neutral representation to display the source code of the chosen file, and that uses the language-neutral representation to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project; and 
a processor for running the program, wherein the display of the source code of the chosen file and the display of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project are synchronized so that a modification in one view is capable of being automatically reflected in the other view.

58. The data processing system of claim 57, wherein the memory device further comprises a transient meta model, wherein said transient meta model stores the language-neutral representation of the source code.

59. The data processing system of claim 57, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

60. The data processing system of claim 57, wherein the program further receives a modification to the source code of the chosen file, converts the modification into a language-neutral representation of the modification, uses the language-neutral representation of the modification to display the modified source code of the chosen file, and uses the language-neutral representation of the modification to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

61. The data processing system of claim 60, wherein the program further detects a syntax error in the modified source code, and provides an error message regarding the syntax error.

62. The data processing system of claim 57, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

63. A data processing system comprising:
a memory device further comprising a program that receives an in identification of a selected language for source code, that creates a file to store the source code in the selected language, that converts the source code into a language-neutral representation, that uses the language-neutral representation to display the source code of the file, and that uses the language-neutral representation of the modification to display a graphical representation of the file; and 
a processor for running the program, 
wherein the display of the source code of the file and the display of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.

64. The data processing system of claim 63, wherein the memory device further comprises a transient meta model, wherein said transient meta model stores the language-neutral representation of the source code.

65. The data processing system of claim 63, wherein the source code and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously.

66. The data processing system of claim 63, wherein the program further receives a modification to the source code of the chosen file, converts the modification into a language-neutral representation of the modification, uses the language-neutral representation of the modification to display the modified source code of the chosen file, and uses the language-neutral representation of the modification to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project with the modified source code.

67. The data processing system of claim 66, wherein the program further detects a syntax error in the modified source code, and provides an error message regarding the syntax error.

68. The data processing system of claim 63, wherein the graphical representation is one of the group consisting of a class diagram, a use case diagram, a sequence diagram, a collaboration diagram, a state transition diagram, an activity diagram, a package diagram, a component diagram and a deployment diagram.

69. A system for developing source code in a project wherein the project comprises a plurality of files and the source code of a chosen one of the plurality of files is written in a language, the system comprising:
means for determining the language of the source code of the chosen file; 
means for displaying the source code of the chosen file; and 
means for displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of the project, 
wherein the means for displaying the source code of the chosen file and the means for displaying of the graphical representation of at least a portion of the project are synchronized so that a modification in one is automatically reflected in the other.